Mealey's (June 18, 2015, 3:41 PM EDT) -- COLUMBUS, Ohio — A federal judge in Ohio on Aug. 27, 2014, ruled that a landowner was partially released from a hydraulic fracturing lease and was permitted to enter a different contract with a separate fracking company because the initial drilling company had not drilled on the land as per the terms of the contract (Jeffrey Curtis v. Hess Ohio Resources LLC, No. 13-0453, S.D. Ohio; 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119584).